Mating Season Original
by Hero07
Summary: Winter's over and Beast boy's feeling great! But then everything changes. Why can't he keep his eyes off of Raven? Why is he having these feelings? Why am I asking you? Note: This story has been rewritten. Please visit my profile to read the new version.
1. A Confused Changeling

Hey! I must say I'm really looking forward to writing this. I'm going to take my time writing it though because I want to make this really good. So between this I'll be working on another new fic and the newly named Changeling Chronicles. Updates won't take forever either since I have a new laptop, so that's good news for those of you who like my work. Well, on to the fic.

Disclaimer: PUMBLESNOOKS! (pronounced - pum-bull-snewks) It's my made up word that will be in the dictionary someday. What's it mean you ask? Well, I'll figure that out eventually….. I don't own the Teen Titans. I do own the word Pumblesnooks though.

* * *

Beast boy awoke feeling better than he had in a long time. It was of course natural, as whenever winter hit he was often lethargic and slept through most of the day, probably a side-affect of having animal DNA.

But now he felt energized, and decided to burn off some of his newfound energy by quickly jumping out of bed and running down the main hall for some breakfast. As he neared the door to the common room, he caught a whiff of something…_good_.

Deciding that he'd find out what created the tantalizing aroma, he opened the door.

* * *

(Raven's POV)

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

Raven was, as per usual, getting in her hour of morning meditation, having realized that early in the morning there was no one to interrupt her. While her empathic abilities were heightened during this morning exercise, the same could not be said for her other senses, which were often dampened. Such was the reason why she barely heard the door to the common room open, although she sensed that it was Beast boy who had entered. Had she been fully aware she might have deemed this odd, as even when it wasn't winter he was almost always the last titan to arrive for breakfast.

That thought however, was lost as even her dampened senses picked up that Beast boy was staring at her. Not a second later, a sudden shock prematurely ended her meditation and sent her sprawling to the floor. Adding to the chaos was a sudden surge of all her emotions, with anger in the forefront at being thrown to the floor, causing her to emit an irritated growl.

She knew it came from Beast boy. But as she turned around to confront him…he was gone.

* * *

(Beast boy's POV)

Beast boy sat in his room while having a mild panic attack.

He couldn't understand it! He had entered the common room to discover that he and Raven were the only ones currently up, which was weird, because he usually awoke around 12:30, and the clock above the refrigerator had read 6:17.

But he'd dismissed it as a result of his newfound energy, and turned towards Raven to bid her good morning….

* * *

_(flashback)_

_She was meditating with her back to him, probably having figured that looking out the window with the beautiful view and serene atmosphere would enhance her focus. From the look of her relaxed posture, it seemed to have worked. _

_Giving himself the equivalent of a mental shrug, he decided it was time for breakfast. There was only one small problem with that plan, mainly… _

_He was frozen in place and his eyes were glued on Raven._

_That delicious smell from earlier filled his senses. It smelled like…Raven. That was the only way to describe it; it was the tantalizing scent of Raven. Thoughts of her filled every fiber of his being, her stunning eyes, her intelligence and wisdom, her cold, sarcastic shell that he was sure hid a beautiful pearl just waiting to be discovered……_

_In his now befuddled mind, he was vaguely aware of a little voice asking what the hell was going on, and telling him to stop thinking and staring at Raven. At the moment, that was impossible as he began to imagine what it would be like to hold her, kiss her, to feel her delicate skin under his finger tips…_

'_WAKE UP!' _

_And with a jolt following the mental shout, the euphoria ended, and left in its place a sweating, blushing, and greatly confused Beast boy._

_He came to his senses in time to see Raven fall to the floor and growl in irritation, sending him into a panic. Had she heard his thoughts with her powers?_

_Deciding he didn't want to be around if she had, he ran to his room and prayed to God that his heart would stop racing. _

_(end flashback)

* * *

_

What the hell was happening to him? He could still feel the traces of whatever struck him. His face still had a red hue to it in addition to a thin layer of sweat, and a few thoughts of Raven still flittered through his mind.

He could already tell this was going to be a long day. But what had caused him to react that way when seeing Raven? He saw her almost everyday and nothing happened. What had changed?

While he was pondering a calendar on the wall caught his eye…

"Oh no…" he whispered desperately. "Oh no, no, no! Not now! Oh God please not now!"

* * *

(Up in Heaven)

"Oh sovereign Lord?"

"Whatever it is Matt be quick about it, I'm in the middle of something important."

"Well sir" Matthew started hesitantly, "You erm… seem to have made a little mistake. You know Garfield Logan and his _'condition' _right?"

God shot the saint an indignant look "Of course I know him, I created him you fool! What my son saw in you I'll never know."

"Err yes, well sir, he wasn't scheduled to go through 'that' time until he could handle all the problems it will cause."

"Your point?"

"That was supposed to happen sometime next January, when he was in a hibernation like state and it wouldn't affect him as much."

"Matthew" the Lord's voice held an accusative tone, "are you insinuating that I, the all powerful all knowing God, made a mistake?"

"Of course not!" he gasped. "I was just wondering why you chose to have it happen now…."

"Worry not Matthew, your doubt is forgiven. But know this, by having him go through it now, two of my children will find the happiness they so rightly deserve sooner than previously planned. As you know, their pasts were not the most pleasant, to say the least."

The saint nodded solemnly and excused himself.

"Now back to my thoughts. Why did I create the platypus? And why didn't I make the number after ten onety-one?"…

* * *

(back with Beast boy)

'It' was the one thing that he prayed would never happen despite Mento's warnings. 'It' was a side-effect of owning animal DNA, one that he prayed with every fiber of his being would not awaken.

Now to prevent the frustration of anyone who has not yet figured out what 'it' is, (although the fic title should give it away) I will now proceed to tell you what 'it' is. Simply put, it is…

His Mating Season.

* * *

I don't know how much of a hit this will be, but I'm _really _looking forward to writing this. And just to be clear, that little exchange between God and Matthew was not meant to offend/insult anybody. I don't think it'd be taken that way, but better safe than sorry. After all, God must appreciate humor or else there would be no such thing neh? I'm also sorry that there are A LOT of ruler thingies. This was kind of just an introduction to... well... introduce it :) There definitely won't be that many in the next chapters. Till then!

12/24/07- reedited because I reread this chapter and didn't like how it flowed. I think this is a good bit better. Still couldn't think of a good way to get rid of all the rulers, so I'm afraid they'll have to stay until I can figure something out.


	2. The Talk

Yup, it's not just your imagination; Mating Season is now officially updated! I'll be frank with you; this chapter won't be worth the long wait you had to endure. But not every chapter can be filled with humor and action, so forgive me if this chapter is a complete let down.

Disclaimer: Hmmm… Nope, can't think of anything witty or humorous, sorry… I don't own the Teen Titans.

* * *

After Beast boy's flight, Raven had vacated her place on the floor and decided to make herself some herbal tea to calm down. While her emotions were no longer in a frenzy from whatever happened, she could still feel the residue from the burst of activity. After making a mental note to visit Beast boy _and_ nevermore, she moved over to the kitchen and began to prepare her tea. 

The door to the common room swished open, and due to the heavy footsteps, Raven knew it was Cyborg. Either that or Starfire was going through her….. _'special time'_ again and had gained 50 pounds. She came _very_ close to snickering after remembering the look on Robin's face when Starfire went through _'it'_ the first time while at the tower…

Cyborg grunted as he plodded toward the fridge covered with sweat.

"Morning Raven"

She glanced over at him and his rather wet appearance and wrinkled her nose in disgust. With the odor he was emitting she could smell him miles away.

"You're up early. And shouldn't you take a shower? I think you're catching up to Beast boy's room in the stench department."

He chuckled a bit as he rummaged through the freezer.

"Sorry Raven; I woke up early this morning and decided to pump some iron. Gotta keep in shape for the ladies y'know?" He added with a smile.

'_Right' _she thought sarcastically. _'Like a certain pink haired sorceress that he's had his eye on…'_

Outwardly she just let out a sigh and pretended not to hear him.

"What are you looking for?"

"C'mon…where is it… ah here it is!" He grinned and held up the item in triumph.

Raven's eyebrow rose in amusement. "And what exactly do you plan to do with an ice cube tray?"

"Well that's easy; this." He then proceeded to cram half of the ice cubes into his mouth.

She gave him a confused look before shrugging. "I'm not even going to ask"

Again the common room door swished open to reveal Robin and Starfire. If Cyborg and Raven noticed that they both looked a little _too_ disheveled even if they had just gotten up, they didn't comment.

Robin yawned and stretched his arms as he made his way towards the kitchen.

"Morning Cy, Raven."

Starfire smiled and followed closely behind him. "I bid you good morning friends!"

Raven nodded in acknowledgement of their presence and Cyborg gave a grunt while continuing to stuff his face with ice cubes.

Starfire looked around as is looking for something before asking "Has anyone seen friend Beast boy yet? I am starting to fear his slow mannerisms will affect his well being."

Raven set her cup down and pulled her hood over her head before making herself heard.

"I pretty sure he's over his 'winter mode'. He was up uncommonly early this morning, and I could feel his pent up energy as soon as he was awake. But I think something's wrong, because a few seconds after he came into the room his emotions went haywire and a…jolt shocked me out of my meditation. When I turned around to confront him he was gone."

Robin instantly went into 'leader mode' and focused all of his attention on Raven. If Beast boy was acting strange then it was his responsibility to know if there was something wrong with him.

"Are you sure that it was Beast boy? How do you know it wasn't something else?"

Raven nodded slowly "Everyone has a unique mental signature, and Beast boy's is one of the strangest ones I've encountered. There's no doubt that whatever hit my mind was from him."

"Well," Robin frowned "for now let's just keep an eye on him."

Cyborg shut the freezer and announced his departure.

"Alright y'all, I'm heading off to take that much needed shower."

Or that's what he intended to say, buy in actuality it sounded something like this due to the ice cubes still jammed in his mouth (and to make sure this was as accurate as possible, I did this myself and repeated the line until I had gotten as close as possible).

"Awite yaw, 'm eding owf ew ake va muck neded sowa"

And, for the sake of this fic, they all miraculously got the message and nodded as he headed to the bathroom.

Starfire turned to Robin with a confused expression "That was… very strange even by earth standards, yes?"

Robin, looking equally confused, just nodded.

After finishing her tea and placing the cup in the sink, Raven headed toward her room for a trip to nevermore, where she would hopefully get some answers.

* * *

_(flashback)_

_Beast boy had never seen Mento look as nervous as he did now, and that included all sorts of fights and battles that they had not expected to make it out of. He was somewhat worried about this 'talk' that Mento and Elasti-girl had called him for. If he had known what was about to pass, then he would know that the worry was very well founded._

_Since no one had said anything since he arrived in Mento's room, he decided to find out why he was here._

"_Umm, Mento, Elas-" _

_But here he was cut off by Elasti-girl._

"_No Gar, right now its Steve and Rita"_

_This only increased his mounting nervousness, as in the doom patrol it was strictly codenames unless a situation was dire…or if there was something personal that needed to be said. He wasn't sure which one was worse._

"_Oh, um, okay. Steve, Rita, why did you call me here?"_

_He stared at both of them waiting for a response._

_In any other scenario, Mento's expression would have been priceless. Now, however, it frightened Beast boy to death. Something was coming. Something…bad._

_Elasti-girl gave Mento a nudge as a not-so-secret 'you start'._

_The man gave a long, heavy sigh before starting his speech slowly and uncomfortably, sounding as if he wanted to be anywhere but here._

"_Gar, there comes a time in every young man's life when he starts to go through a…'change'…"_

(Now, I'm sure most of you see where this is going, so for a few seconds we'll let Mento finish his little 'chat'.)

………

………

………

………

(Okay I think we can check back in now)

"_Now you may have noticed that you're growing hair in…strange places…"_

(Whoopsie...Alright, let's check in again)

_Beast boy currently looked more like Christmas tree than a superhero. His eyes were unfocused, and if you looked closely enough you would see little droplets of sweat covering his hands, which were currently squeezing the life out of his knees. _

_Mento also looked rather uncomfortable, but Rita's hand on his shoulder calmed him some. _

"_Alright Gar, any questions?"_

"_Uh…um... n…no sir…"_

_Mento looked as if he had single handedly destroyed the brotherhood of evil after Beast boy's answer. He may have been as uncomfortable as Beast boy at having to give 'the talk'……nah. But he came close. He was about to usher Beast boy out but was stopped by Rita._

"_Steve we're not done here yet. We still have to warn him about what may happen due to the…nature…of his powers."_

_He almost groaned at the prospect of explaining more of these things to Beast boy, but because he was Mento, he didn't._

"_Alright Gar I'll make this quick since you" and here he muttered a 'and I' "probably just want this to be over with."_

_He took a deep breath and continued. "Because your powers come from the animal DNA infused with your own, there is a chance that this will affect you when you come of age. I won't get too deep into it now; we'll go over more later once you can handle everything you've been told here today. But like most animals, you may go through a…mating season of sorts. How long it lasts is anyone's guess, because of all the factors that are unpredictable. Different animals go through mating seasons at different times and different ways. Add to that the fact that you can transform into any animal and your own hormones…well you get the picture. The point being, for a period of time you may start to have…urges… that you can't understand. The only thing I can suggest is staying in a secluded area for as long as possible until it's over. If it comes while we're here at headquarters, we'll just keep you in your room and have negative man phase food and drinks through the floor. During our spare time Rita and I will look for something to subdue your animal instincts when they erupt."_

"_And remember Gar, we'll always be here if you need to ask any questions later." Rita added._

_Being totally speechless, Beast boy just nodded and walked out in a daze to digest all the information he'd been given._

_As soon as the door closed behind him Mento collapsed into a chair._

"_I never want to go over that again."_

_Elasti-girl giggled at him and replied. "If we ever have a child you'll have to."_

_Mento didn't restrain himself this time, and let out a loud groan._

* * *

Beast boy paced back in forth furiously in his room. 

'_What am I going to do?'_

He stopped pacing and slammed his fist into his palm.

"Alright Beast boy, pacing isn't going to solve anything. Just calm down and think this through."

Contrary to what Raven constantly told him, Beast boy did have a brain. He was very capable of thinking, but he didn't need to. Just Robin alone thought enough for all of them; add to that Raven and sometimes Cyborg…the team didn't need more serious thinking people. He and Starfire had to work twice as hard being happy and cheerful twenty-four seven to break even with the team's combined seriousness.

But now _he_ needed to be serious and think.

"Alright. Option one; stay in room under pretense of serious sickness."

'_That might work for a day or two,' _he thought_ 'but after that Cyborg would start to get worried and want to give me an examination… and that includes blood samples.'_

If there was one thing Beast boy hated more that meat, it was needles. Option one was out of the picture.

"Option two; go about business as normal and avoid Raven at all costs."

This was a better idea altogether, but presented some problems. It was foolish to think that he could avoid Raven for a long period of time without anyone noticing something was wrong. Especially since a day hadn't gone by that he didn't try to make Raven laugh with his jokes. Then there was the fact that they'd eat together eventually, and battling villains was another problem entirely. If he was instructed to watch her back while she was concentrating on something, well… he'd watch her back alright. The problem would be exactly _where_ his focus would be on her back. But then another thought struck him.

'_But what if this isn't only around Raven? What if this is with every girl I see? Oh hell! What if I get like this around Starfire?! Robin would kill me if I ever glanced at Starfire that way! Oh man, this may be a lot deeper than I thought. This is not a good day…'_

"Alright, first things first. I need to find out if this is just around Raven, or if Starfire can do this to me too." With that plan in mind, he turned into a fly and flew under his door.

While on his way to the kitchen, he flew past Raven in the hallway, who was rubbing her temples and growling something that sounded suspiciously like 'Happy'. Even looking at her for a few seconds caused his small body to sweat, and his hundreds of eyes were all focused on her until he was completely past her as he turned a corner and she vanished from sight. He was so unfocused that he almost ran into the door leading to the common room. After flying under the door, he began to panic.

There was Starfire, and he could feel his fly stomach starting to react.

'_Here it comes!'_ and he readied himself for the oncoming urges……

'PFFFTTT' (Can flies even fart? Hmmm…)

He inwardly chuckled to himself '_whoops, just a little gas…'_

'_Alright, this is good. So Raven's probably the only on that affects me. And while that's a good thing, it only makes this more confusing.'_

Because he was getting hungry, he waited until Robin and Starfire left to go train. Well, more like Robin would train, and Starfire had told him she'd watch. Beast boy didn't see how that could be any fun, but didn't reveal his thoughts because he was still hiding in fly form. However, if he had told them his thoughts, Robin and Starfire would _firmly_ disagree.

After heating up some leftover pancakes and shoving them in his mouth, he morphed into a fly and flew back in his room for some more planning now that he was sure his problems only happened around Raven.

He flew through the hallway without encountering anyone save Cyborg, who had walked past him after taking a shower. He could have sworn he heard Cyborg say his name, but passed it off as a mistake. He finally arrived in his room, and after slipping under the door once again, laid down on his bed to do some more planning concerning his predicament.

But right when he was about to start his thinking anew, a knock at his door stopped any and all thought.

"Beast boy, it's Raven. We need to talk."

* * *

Heheh I finally updated! Well, despite the fact that the wait was probably not worth the chapter, I did my best. As an apology of sorts I tried to make this chapter rather long, and I kinda succeeded; this is the longest chapter I've ever written. It was going to be even longer, but I wanted to get this out as soon as possible for making you all wait so long. Well, that's it for now. Later! 

12/24/07-reedited for some minor errors and things that annoyed me.


	3. In love? With Beast boy?

Alright, I'm completely wiped from writing this right after my research report. That being said; don't expect an update for awhile. I've got exams, other projects, and other fics to work on, so this one will be taking a break. Also, I changed the little scene I gave you in that half chapter thing so that it flowed better. That's all. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: (As I finish the last episode of the sixth season)

Me: "Ah, I've finally finished the sixth season! Time to get this to the studio, lest I make those poor Teen Titans fans wait a second longer!"

(Calls up cartoon network) "Hey! I've finally got the sixth season done!"

(yelling comes from the phone) "What do you mean I don't own Teen Titans!? IT WAS CANCELLED!? WHY!? (more yelling and annoying all capital sentences ensue, so I'll save your time and sanity and just skip to the end.)

Me: (growls) Apparently I _don't_ own the Teen Titans.

* * *

As Raven left the common room, she had a decision on her hands. 

'_Hmm… should I visit Beast boy first; or Nevermore? Beast boy would logically come first; since whatever is going on with him may be potentially dangerous. But my emotions have been acting up ever since this morning, and if there's an attack then I won't be in control of what my power does… No matter how much he doesn't act it, Beast boy can handle himself for now. What's more important is getting my emotions back to normal. And during the process I could always ask Knowledge and Wisdom if they know what's going on…'_

With her destination decided, Raven floated down the corridor leading to her room. The trip was uneventful save for a sudden burst of unexplained…_excitement…_ that made her growl out a curse aimed at a certain overly hyper, pink-clad emotion. She knew who she'd be having a talk with first.

With that thought in mind, she entered her room and strode over to the desk where she kept her mirror. After picking it up and closing her eyes while muttering her mantra, she opened them to view the bleak atmosphere of Nevermore.

'_Well, time to get this started.'_

She sent out a signal to every emotion, beckoning them to her. Within seconds the eight emotions stood in front of her, each looking unsurprised to be here.

"Well look who's finally here." growled Anger.

Raven ignored the emotion and turned to Happy with a glare.

"You" she said while pointing a finger "stop trying to get more control, and you" this time she pointed to Knowledge "What in the world made you all go crazy?"

Knowledge gave a sigh, a tell-tale sign that Raven wouldn't like what was coming.

"We're not exactly sure. What we know is only what you do, that it came from Beast boy. After the…disturbance… each of us had a sudden power surge, Anger was cursing everything in and out of sight, Happy was acting like a sugar induced Starfire, Rude was… well you get the point. I'm only the knowledge you have accumulated since your birth, I would only know what happened if it had happened before."

Raven rubbed her temples in annoyance and turned to Wisdom.

"Well Knowledge may not have any idea, but what about you?"

Said emotion took in a breath and spoke softly.

"I do."

Now Raven was fairly surprised at this, since Wisdom almost _never_ gave her a straight answer. It was usually given to her in a riddle, which was only figured out _after_ the thing she had needed to know was no longer useful.

"Well then, what exactly was it?"

"I cannot tell you."

Ohhh baaaaad answer.

To give Raven credit, she didn't immediately blow up. She did, however, grit her teeth to the point of them nearly cracking, and clenched her fists till they turned purple (the stage after white). She decided to wait a few seconds to try and calm herself down before replying.

"WHY NOT?" twelve seconds, a new record.

The emotion showed no signs of fear, and just stared back beneath the hood, seemingly nonplussed.

"Because I cannot tell you what you already know but deny."

Raven's anger dissipated and left in its place confusion.

"Huh?" elegant, I know.

The emotion repeated her statement.

"I cannot tell you what you already know but deny."

Raven blinked in confusion "What does that mean?"

"If you wish to acknowledge what you already know, seek out affection."

Knowing she wouldn't get any more answers from the cryptic emotion, she turned to Knowledge.

"What's happened to affection?"

"Well" here she paused and sighed again "she's… changed."

"Oh no." she whispered.

Affection stepped in front of the other emotions, holding a certain rubber chicken won by a certain green changeling. In addition, her cloak looked a shade lighter.

Affection smiled and hugged the chicken tightly.

"Yes Raven, it's true. You can't deny it any longer."

Raven shrank back like a child and whispered disbelievingly.

"B-but it can't be true. Affection can't have turned into love. I…I can't be in love…with Beast boy."

Complete silence overtook them all.

Not for long.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Every emotion was laughing, _at her_.

After a good few minutes of Raven feeling completely bewildered, Rude composed herself enough to speak.

"Y- y-you think y-you're in love with B-Beast boy?" and finished it off with another round of snorting.

Knowledge finally got herself completely under control, and bid the others to quiet down.

"Raven, you don't love Beast boy, you're just attracted to him. Just like the first time you met Aqualad and were attracted to him. And like in the situation with Aqualad, it may wear off after a while. This may just be your hormones reacting."

Raven let out a huge breath and pulled her hood on. She felt completely embarrassed at having jumped to conclusions, and just wanted to leave now.

"Oh… so what should I do now?"

Knowledge put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"It's up to you Raven, this is your choice. You can ignore it and see if it goes away, or you can see if there is something else there. It's all up to you to decide what you're going to do."

"But I thought you said Affection changed. If she didn't turn into love, than how did she change?"

Knowledge gave another short laugh and responded.

"First off Raven, even if you did love Beast boy, an emotion called 'love' would not appear in nevermore."

Here Raven looked confused again and raised an eyebrow.

"Why not?"

"Simple. Love isn't an emotion."

"If love isn't an emotion, then what is it?"

Knowledge took off her glasses and cleaned them with her cloak.

"I can't tell you what Love is since you don't know what it is. I can only tell you this. What would you generally say we are, besides your emotions of course, and grammatically speaking?"

"Well…adjectives I guess."

Knowledge smiled.

"Correct. You feel happy, timid, angry, courageous, intelligent, wise, affection, and well, you don't really feel rude, but you act it. You can also use all the aforementioned words to describe you or someone else, but love doesn't describe anything. Therefore, it isn't an emotion."

Raven nodded in understanding, but still had questions.

"Then what _is_ it?"

"Like I said, we can't tell you exactly what it is since you've never experienced it before. But when you say 'I love you', love is used as a verb, and a verb signifies action. Love is basically an action, you show your love to someone else, and you prove your love through your actions."

"And that's it? That's all there is to love?"

"Of course not, love is one of the most complex things ever created, and no one can every fully understand it. But you don't always need to understand something to have it, so you can love someone and still not understand it completely. You'll know when you're truly in love."

"Okay, I understand. So the only change in Affection is that she has someone to focus it on for now?"

"Right. Now I believe it is time for you to go if you wish to visit Beast boy and try to find out what happened, and maybe you can try to figure out if you wish to pursue anything with Beast boy while you're there."

Raven blushed a little a nodded, before once again uttering her mantra and disappearing, leaving the emotions to burst out into laughter again.

Brave hobbled over to Knowledge and gave a snicker.

"Can you believe that Raven thought she loved beast boy?"

Knowledge gave a small smile and looked at where Raven had been seconds prior.

"Well you must remember that even though Raven acts so mature, she's still just a teenager, albeit one with super powers. And like teenagers, she quickly misidentified attraction to love…"

* * *

Raven opened her eyes to find herself on top of her bed. 

'_So… I'm attracted to Beast boy… I can handle this.'_

Ah denial.

'_I'll just do what Knowledge said and ignore it until it goes away, just like with Aqualad.'_

With her mind made up, Raven made her way to Beast boy's room, hoping that this time, she would get some answers.

After arriving at her destination, she drew in a breath and knocked on the door.

"Beast boy, it's Raven. We need to talk."

* * *

"Beast boy, it's Raven. We need to talk." 

'_Well, that throws all my ideas out the window.'_

And that thought gave him an excellent idea.

'_Hey, that gives me an excellent idea!'_

Told you.

'_I'll just fly out the window and come back later when they're all asleep!'_

He ran over to the window, making sure to be cautious so that Raven didn't hear him. He tried to pry it open, only to find it nailed shut.

'_That's right! I nailed shut all the windows in the tower after I played that prank on Raven so that she couldn't throw me out of one of them!'_

Ironic that what he did to save himself from punishment was now delivering him into the hands of it.

"Beast boy, I know you're in there, and if you don't open the door I'll just phase through."

Beast boy, in a state of panic, screamed the first thing that came to mind.

"Don't come in I'm naked!"

………

………

After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, Raven, on the other side of the door, blushed a brilliant crimson and tried with great difficulty to sound apathetic when she responded.

What ended up coming out was a high pitched "O-oh, t-then I-I'll wait."

Beast boy gave a let out a the breath he had been holding and pretended to be looking through his drawer, making sure to be loud enough to leave no doubt of what he was doing. But he knew he was only prolonging the inevitable, Raven wouldn't believe that it would take 10 minutes to get dressed. So he would have to improvise…

"Alright, come in."

Raven entered to see Beast boy rummaging through his closet, as if he were looking for something. She waited a few seconds for him to turn around, but when he didn't stop she decided to get on with what she came for.

"Beast boy, this morning when you came into the common room you did something that knocked me out of my meditation and sent you into a state of panic. What happened?"

Although Raven couldn't see it, Beast boy was beginning to sweat, both from the question and the fact that Raven's smell was filling his nostrils, and she smelt _good_.

"U-uh w-what are you talking about?"

Raven glared, but then realized that staring at Beast boy was making her face feel rather warm. So she settled with rolling her eyes and focusing on a pile of cloths situated in a corner of the room.

"Beast boy, this is serious. If something's wrong with you then I need to know so that we can find out what. Now you can tell me nicely, or I can _make_ you tell me."

'_Oh __**why**__ does the thought of her __**making**__ me tell her sound good instead of terrifying?'_

He gave a sigh and began turning toward her, ready to delve into a long explanation.

"Raven-"

Fortunately for Beast boy, Robin's voice came over both of their T-coms and halted his speech.

"_Training time. Report to the training room immediately."_

If Robin were there right then, Beast boy would have…well not kissed him, because that would be weird. But he would have thanked him profusely and maybe given him a hug, a manly hug of course.

Not wasting anytime on the much needed distraction, Beast boy sprinted out of the room after calling back to Raven a "better not keep him waiting!"

Raven, now alone in Beast boy's room sighed and looked to the floor, where a pair of boxers lay innocently. After turning crimson again, she stalked off to the training room with only one thought in mind.

'_This may be harder than I thought.'_

When Beast boy entered the training room, sweating, he was met with disbelieving stares.

"Beast boy," Robin began "did you run all the way here?"

He gave a nervous laugh "Ummm- yeah! Nothing like training, heheh."

'_Okay' _Robin thought _'there's definitely something wrong with him'._

Besides the weird stares he was receiving from the rest of the team, Beast boy was relatively at ease. Since Robin was always observing any flaws in their form, that left the four of them to spar, one on one. Raven and Starfire would spar against each other, as would Beast boy and Cyborg.

Raven walked into the room, and after throwing Beast boy a glance noticed by Cyborg, stood next to Starfire.

Robin started to walk over to the control panel before being stopped by Cyborg.

"Hey Rob, can I talk to you for a sec, in private?"

Robin gave him a quizzical look, but nodded and followed him to the other side of the room.

"Look Rob, something's up with Beast boy and Raven. I saw Raven staring at him when she came in, and I think they might have had another fight. So for once could you let me direct training, because I have an idea to make them confront their problem head on."

Robin frowned a little, but then shrugged and nodded and walked back over to the rest of the team.

"Alright guys, today Cyborg will be directing training. Anything he says goes."

Cyborg threw a glance at Beast boy and Raven before walking over to the control panel.

"Alright guys, here's how this'll go. Today we're doing hand to hand combat, that means no powers whatsoever. Robin will spar with Starfire, and Beast boy will spar with Raven."

Beast boy went through a moment of horror before giving a mental shout.

'_Damn you Cyborg. DAMN YOU!!!!'_

* * *

Wohoo! It's done! On another note, this is 8 pages, my longest chapter. Seems like I'm finally getting the hang of making them longer… Anyway, oh wait! One more thing. That whole, love isn't an emotion thing, I don't want to receive any reviews debating that. I'm not even sure where I stand on that debate, but it went along with the whole 'showing you the same scene you've read before in a completely different way'. I didn't want to do the same thing everyone else does, and it fit. That's all there is to it. Later! 

12/24/07-reedited for some minor mistakes.


	4. Close Contact

Well, for better or for worse, here it is.

Disclaimer: I don't own the teen titans.

* * *

He suddenly became aware of a gloved hand waving inches from his face. 

"Beast boy, are you alright?"

Beast boy gave him a nervous grin and nodded quickly.

"Uh, yeah Rob, just kinda spaced for a second there."

The boy wonder gave a skeptical look, but shrugged and walked over to the bench, taking a seat next to Starfire to wait for their turn.

Cyborg's voice came over the intercom as Raven and Beast boy took their places on opposite sides of the training mat.

"_Alright guys remember; hand to hand combat, and no powers. And Raven, no cheap shots to BB's little guy in the basement."_

Both combatants threw the operator a glare, though Raven's was a little more menacing due to the reddening of her face. Whether this was from anger or the embarrassing thought of Beast boy's 'little guy in the basement' was unknown, but it was probably a little bit of both.

'_Plus' _thought Cyborg, _'this will make them face their problem head on. Whatever argument they had will be cleared up by this little venting session. BB may be angry with me now, but later he'll thank me… I'm such a good friend.'_

The road to chaos is paved with misguided assumptions… or something like that.

Raven, for her part, just wanted to get this over with. She still had to finish her chat with Beast boy, and she needed to meditate again, due mostly to the fact of her (was it new-found?) attraction to Beast boy. She knew his fighting style; he'd dodge around hits with his small and quick frame, and then hit his opponent when their reactions were slowed down by fatigue. A plan was already forming in her head to make it a quick fight…

While Beast boy had been worried just a mere second ago, a soothing calm overtook his body. He could do this. All he had to do was dodge her attacks and wait for her to slow down. Adding to his new-found calm was the realization that he was looking at Raven, and _nothing was happening_. 

'_Hey, maybe I'm not going through it! Maybe I just wasn't feeling good, and now I'm better!'_

"_And……START!"_

Beast boy readied a defensive stance as Raven charged at him full speed…

Only to watch her trip when her cloak strayed too close to her descending foot.

"BWAHAHAHAHA!" All of the Titans were now rolling on the floor, save for Starfire, who was floating in the air and unsuccessfully trying to hide her laughter.

Raven picked herself off of the floor for the second time that day, her face glowing cherry red. This was the second time today she had been knocked to the floor and the second time she had been laughed at for making a fool of herself. Her cloak would only get in the way now, and she wanted to vent her new-found frustration…

After a few seconds, Beast boy pushed himself back into a standing position, but was still trying to gain control of his laughter.

Raven's fists were now turning white from the force of her clenching, and the constant grinding was certainly not good for her teeth. She was reaching her breaking point…… no, wait, make that past it.

In one fluid motion, her cloak was ripped off of her body and thrown a few feet away, where it landed softly on the floor. Without waiting to see the reaction of the others, she flung herself toward Beast boy again, raw emotion fueling her thoughts and actions, any and all plans forgotten. This state, however, had blinded her to one _very_ important thing.

Beast boy had stopped laughing.

His stance was almost screaming 'stability of a one legged elephant', and his eyes had widened to immeasurable proportions. His body felt like it was on fire, and for some reason, through his eyes Raven was moving in painfully slow motion. His eyes took in every contracting muscle, every bead of sweat, every inch of her smooth, uncovered skin… and then, almost as if making up for the sudden slow down, time rushed forward, and before Beast boy could even blink or breathe, Raven was upon him.

Beast boy must be given credit, as even in his confused and unready state, he dodged her initial punch by falling backwards onto his right hand, watching from below as Raven's fist soared past where his head had been milliseconds before. 

As he saw this, his right foot had already sailed upwards in a counterattack, aiming for her unguarded stomach. Raven saw this however, and pushed herself backwards, with Beast boy's foot missing her chin by an inch. This caused Beast boy to lose his balance as his foot kept moving upwards because of the power he had put into the kick. Using the momentum, he brought his other foot into the air as well, and combined the forces of his movement to do a one handed back flip, landing back on his feet. Although he was still in a bit of shock, he still had time to marvel at himself.

'_Wow, I can't believe that worked!'_

Over on the sidelines, Starfire turned to Robin in a state of amazement.

"Boyfriend Robin, is that not your move?"

Robin may have been in an equal state of amazement, but with his mask covering his eyes it was hard to tell.

"Yeah, I'm surprised he pulled it off, but although it looked good, he hasn't gotten the movement and flow down quite right. It got him back on his feet quickly, but he looks a little dizzy too." 

He was right. Beast boy was currently feeling a little dizzy, and that gave Raven the few precious seconds she needed. Within two seconds, Raven was once again on the attack, and this time, Beast boy wasn't ready.

Her fist once again sailed toward his head, but this time, he was still dizzy, and decided to launch himself backwards in favor of gaining some distance until his dizziness wore off. Raven however, did not give him the chance, and came forward with another punch. She intended to deliver a weak punch which she knew he would dodge, and then follow up with a strong one to the right, where she had a gut feeling he would dodge to.

The first part of her plan worked flawlessly, and Beast boy did dodge to the right, but, due to an unknown reason, froze short of where she had thrown her other punch. This caused her arm to once again sail past Beast boy's face and over his shoulder, but because she had put almost all of her weight into that punch with the hope of ending the spar, she _kept going_.

Beast boy gave himself a mental laugh at the weak punch Raven threw at him. Was she tiring out already? He dodged to the right and prepared to bring his fist up when something, no, _two _somethings that Raven owned were in close proximity of his face. He froze.

Once again, time seemed to slow down for Beast boy, he watched, feeling detached from his body, as he and Raven fell. Her lips parted slightly in a gasp, and he watched as they drew closer, closer, closer, until…

Her forehead smashed into his jaw.

Raven's hands flew to her forehead while Beast boy's hands did the same to his jaw. He stopped this, though, when he realized that that was just crushing a cloak less Raven into his body, and immediately rolled her off of him and shot backwards.

Raven, meanwhile, pulled herself onto her knees and focused her healing power to her forehead. The pain wasn't healed, just ignored; it would be back later that day. But for now it was gone, and that was all that mattered. She stood back up and faced Beast boy.

The changeling was a little too preoccupied with his own thoughts to notice.

'_Not good, not good! Oh why did the first superhero get the bright idea to wear spandex? I need something to cool me down. Think cool things…like an ocean. Yeah, an ocean with sand, and dolphins, and Raven in a bikini, and…… crap! Uh, ok, pool! I'm swimming in a pool, and I dive underwater and come back up to lay on a float, and then Raven jumps in……AHHH this isn't working! Okay, Beast boy, think of something nasty. Uhh, uhhh…… I've got it! Control Freak in a Speedo! Yes!... I MEAN, NO! EWWW! I'm going to have nightmares for weeks!'_

Beast boy was saved from more damaging mental images by Cyborg's voice over the intercom.

"_Nice try BB, we all saw how you didn't even try to guard that last punch. New rule, you can't just let yourself get hit. I'm not letting you guys stop until I'm sure that you guys are doing this for real."_

'_Oh he's sooo going to get it when all of this is over.'_

Raven got back into a fighting stance and faced Beast boy.

"Alright Beast boy, let's do this."

'_Control Freak in a Speedo, Control Freak in a Speedo.'_

This time Beast boy took the initiative and rushed forward. His usual style wasn't't going to work anymore, so he'd have to improvise. He brought up his foot in a kick, but Raven caught the offending appendage and pushed, sending him off balance for the second time. She took the opportunity given, and tried to sweep his feet out from under him. Beast boy jumped and dodged the attack, but had fallen into Raven's trap. The uppercut that she sent to his jaw while he was exposed in midair was filled with as much power as she had left, and Beast boy had only one second to marvel at her right hook before everything went black.

He heard shouts, felt a cooling sensation flow throughout his entire body, and then, nothing.

* * *

Well, I did it. It actually turned out a good bit better than I had thought, so overall I'm pretty happy. This chapter gave me a whole lotta grief. I rewrote it seven or eight times! But out of all the rewrite's this one is the best. I would like to thank all of you for being patient with me, and the next chapter will not take 3-4 months to come out. 

I've also noticed that a good number of people have pledges in their profile now. You know what that means don't you? I started something (at least I'm pretty sure it is) new! Go me! Copying is the sincerest form of flattery. 

This chapter was short, and I was originally going to make it longer, but didn't want to make you guys wait any longer. To those of you who reviewed the notice, if you wamt to review the actual fourth chapter, you can send me a PM.

Later-Hero07


	5. Empty the glass?

One warning, there is a scene with a bit of excessive swearing. I really couldn't figure out another way to do it without the swearing, so I'm sorry to anyone who finds it offensive or something. It will rarely happen again. Well, here's the next chapter. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Hmmmm… nope, can't think of anything witty. I don't own the Teen Titans.

* * *

_He was running through an endless forest. Free to roam, free to live, and free to do whatever he wanted. There was a light beyond the bush, he rushed out into the clearing…_

_And then there was a waterfall, looking beautiful and serene. But he saw past the illusion, saw the water turn from crystal clear to blood red; heard the roar of the waters turn into the scream of an animal that knew it would die…_

_He used to love to read. His parents had a small library of books that they had accumulated over the years. He would take a pile of books from it and read for hours on end. He read and he learned, and he loved to learn. But then… but then…_

_And then he was lost between large shelves, with agony reflecting in his eyes. He let a page rise, and then watched it fall of its own will to join its brethren already situated on the other side of his sweating hand._

_None of it meant __anything__! _

_The words, what had happened to them? Before, they had meant something, they had whispered infinite things to him in his room, had tread their friendly and somehow melancholy dance for him. But __now they jumped and slid past his eyes, laughing, like water trickling through his fingers, and no matter how loudly he screamed, shouted, implored the water to slow its path, to allow him to once again regain what he once knew, it continued to flow past him. All that he saw were pretty little shapes on a pretty page that did not say __anything._

"_War is Peace," it mocked._

_That doesn't make sense, he screamed! That doesn't mean anything, how can that be?!_

_Once upon a time, those words had made sense. They had meant something spectacular. They were life and death themselves, and he knew them, probed them, understood them, examined them from all angles like a jeweler appraising a diamond, like he knew life and knew death, but now they were strangers, he could not see them aside from the pretty shapes they made. People stripped of their hands and stripped of their faces until they were just so many mannequins posed in a window. They had __meant__ something…_

_Those shapes looked so nice, so quiet, so satisfied with themselves. So why did he feel the gnawing anger, the desire to scream, roar, shred, rip?_

_His eyes shredded the book for him as it fell, __still whispering infinite things in that horrible hissing heart-wrenching language to a boy that could no longer __hear__._

_He ran all the way back to his house. Never stopping, never thinking, just running to get away._

_Hours later, he lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling in agony. __His eyes were empty, his ears were empty, and his head was empty. No, not empty. Filled. Filled with so much anger, sadness, and loneliness that there was no more room for pretty pages whispering secret words in their strange tongues._

_He hadn't picked up a book since._

_In the form of a dog, he crawled as far into the corner as he could and rolled himself into a ball. The form of a large man appeared, swaying from the excessive drinking._

"_Look you little shit-stain, next time you steal something, make sure it's not a replica! The next time you try to pull shit like this again, I'll break every fuckin' bone in your body!"_

_The blows came quickly, and before long Beast boy was back in human form, looking more dead than alive. _

_Another man, this one shorter and thinner, came through the entrance to the ruined kitchen._

"_Frank! Stop it! He won't be any good to us dead!"_

_The beating stopped, and the large man stumbled out of the kitchen, still muttering curses to the world._

_Even though it hurt to move, he looked up to see his savior, who was also his captor. The man almost looked sorry, and opened his mouth as if to say something, but then shook his head and left the room, leaving the broken boy to cry himself to sleep._

_Where was the jello? Oh wait, he'd left it in the computer. _

_Hey there's Raven! In a bikini! With ice-cream! And Mega-Monkeys 519! Everything he could ever want in one convenient place! But those shoelaces weren't supposed to be taking a nap next to Cyborg's arm…_

_Darkness._

_Safe. Safe in den. He belonged to den, just as den belonged to him._

_Fur bristling. Something wrong. Not smell mark! Enemies not know that place under his protection! Enemies need be warned! Any who threaten what his be destroyed!_

_Where mark? Mark his precious. Precious need mark most. Precious need protection most._

_It knew where it needed to go, and it slunk away into the hallway._

* * *

Beast boy groaned as he slowly awoke to a headache and a slightly throbbing jaw.

He threw his arms over his eyes to shield them from the blindingly white walls of the medial room. But something was wrong. There weren't any annoyingly bright lights. In fact, the room he was currently in had a bit of a darker tone to it…

Hoisting himself into a sitting position, he took a glance around at the room. Strange statues and a shelf full of books triggered something that made him feel like he had been here before… What was he missing…?

And then he saw it on the desk, a mirror that he had most definitely seen before.

'_AHHHH! I'M IN RAVEN'S ROOM!'_

At this realization, he looked around him furiously, almost expecting her to come and unleash some of her magic on him for being in her room without permission. When nothing of the sort happened, he calmed down and strode over to her meditation mirror.

He remembered all of the trouble that thing had gotten him into. Raven hadn't allowed him anywhere _near_ her room for a few months after accidently taking a trip through her mind. It _had_ been interesting though, to see all of the different sides of Raven. As he stared at the mirror, he started to feel an irresistible desire to pick it up.

'_Well…I guess taking a little peek wouldn't hurt.'_

He noticed that it looked a bit different from when he had seen it last. The four "horns" that had adorned it were now gone, leaving it round like any other mirror. The color had also seen a change; what had been a dull gray was now a dark blue. In fact, if it didn't still have the two red gems, he probably wouldn't have known it was her meditation mirror.

The mirror gave off an eerie reflection, which shouldn't have been possible due to the room being very dark; the only light on at the moment was a small lamp on Raven's dresser.

Attributing the oddity to the pure weirdness of Raven's room, he shrugged and put the mirror back down where he had found it.

'_Okay, now to get out of here and figure out what to do next.'_

Unbeknownst to Beast boy, right before the door to the room had closed behind him, a black tendril of magic shot out of the mirror and into the back of his head. After giving the sudden itch on the back of his head a good scratch, he continued on his way down the hall.

Back in the room, the echo of a girl's laughter was the only evidence that anything had occurred.

* * *

Raven rubbed her temples furiously.

'_Way to go, you just beat up the only candidate for a potential relationship with you. Most guys don't want to date a girl who can and does beat them up on a regular basis.'_

"Shut-up Rude."

Cyborg turned around from his spot on the couch, temporarily causing the character in the videogame to run into a wall.

"You say something Raven?"

She shook her head, so the mechanical teen gave a shrug and returned his attention to the game.

'_Nice job. Talking out loud to a voice no one can hear but you. Keep going on like that and they'll haul you off to the loony house.'_

'_Well,' _she thought, _'being officially crazy wouldn't be that surprising. It would explain the anger issues, voices in my head, and my attraction to Beast boy…'_

She shook herself of the thoughts. This wasn't good. She had already gone from ignoring and denying her feelings for the changeling to acknowledging them.

'_Well it's about time. Now we can focus on what's really important; how to get a piece of that hot a-'_

'_If you complete that thought, I __will__ lock you up with Happy. She was just telling me about how she wanted to get those grease stains out of your cloak…'_

'_No way! It took me forever to get all of these stains so deep seated into this thing!'_

The voice of the emotion finally quieted, and Raven gave a relieved sigh.

"Friend Raven! I have been searching for you!"

'_Well there goes any chance I had for piece and quiet…'_

"What is it Starfire?"

The girl gave a sheepish grin and found a sudden fascination with the floor.

"I am afraid that I must apologize to you. As I was going to visit Robin, I passed your room and happened to smell a strange odor coming from it. I went in to investigate and found that my little bumgorf has…'emptied the glass' onto your floor."

Raven stared.

Starfire squirmed anxiously.

Raven stared more.

Starfire gave a shaky laugh.

After another few seconds of staring at Starfire, Raven let out a huff and headed toward the hallway.

"Come on then. If your pet is the one responsible, you're going to be the one cleaning it up."

Starfire let out the breath she'd been holding and quickly followed after, leaving Cyborg by himself.

He didn't even notice.

* * *

Beast boy, now back in his room, sat on his bed, preparing to do something that he swore he'd never do again. Turning over the purple and black communicator in his hand, he pushed the button on the side. A few rings later, Mento's voice came through the speaker, using his 'professional' tone.

"**You've reached the personal line of Mento an-" **

There was a voice (Rita's) in the background, and after a few seconds of unknown conversation, Mento's voice returned with a sigh. With a chuckle Beast boy noticed that his voice had lost the professional edge.

"**You've reached the personal line of Steve and Rita Dayton. Please leave a message after the beep."**

After waiting for the beep, Beast boy prepared himself to say the four words that he never wanted to say again after leaving the Doom Patrol.

"Steve, Rita, it's Gar. I need your help."

* * *

Not much action in this chapter. There were two important things that happened. One is obvious; the other may not be if you weren't really paying attention. I'll give you a hint. Starfire's interaction with Raven was there for a reason. It's a bit of a foreshadowing of things to come.

About the dream; was it confusing? Some of the stuff in there was just interpretations about Beast boy's past, taken from what I know about the comics. If it's wrong, I don't actually read the comics, so it may happen. The other stuff was just random. It's supposed to be a bit random/confusing since it's a dream, and most dreams are anything but logical.

One last thing. If you haven't already, please go vote in the poll on my profile/bio thingy. I'm not going to beg or threaten to not update if no one does, but I'm curious to know what you guys and gals think.


	6. A New Beginning

The new Mating Season is now on my profile. This has been changed to Mating Season Original so that I don't have to come up with a fancy name for the new version. Yes, I'm lazy. But it solves the problem of people not being able to review again, and now we can start nice and fresh. I'm sorry for the delay: with prom, exams, graduation, and college stuff I just didn't have time. I hope that it was worth the wait.

But I won't keep you here any longer. Go on over to the new story. Enjoy.


End file.
